Tubing cleaner and protector



May 20, 1930. J, c ARMSTRONG ET AL 1,758,995

TUBING CLEANER AND PROTECTOR Filed May 18, 1928 gvwantous J5HN CI fikna-rzolvs 1 w 1 o J'assPH ES m a. This Patented May 20, 1930 UNITED sTATEs PATENT O FICE- m: 0. ms'rnone, or mnnoan, AND JOSEPH n. wmrs, on nos mourns,

canmoam TUBING. CLEANER AND PROTECTOR Application filed May 18, 1928. Serial No. 278,758.

This invention is a device used in combination with the tubing and sucker rods of wells, being particularly adapted for use in the pumping of oil, and has as an object the provision of means for removing superfluous deposits of wax and asphaltic or other substances from the inner surface-of the tubing, and, secondly, the guiding of the sucker rods in the tubing in such a manner as to pre- 19 ventdirect engagement of the sucker rods with the tubing. I It. is well mown to those familiar with the art that, due to the fact that oil wells do not follow a perpendicular line, the reciprocation 15 of the sucker rods within the tubing does not follow a line concentric with the tubing.

We are aware of the fact that numerous types of guides have been developed to hold the sucker rods in a substantially central position within the tubin thus preventing an undue wearing of sur aces, and while it is one object of our invention to develop a ide of the class described, it is a primary ject to develop a device'which will not only act as a guide but will serve an additional and novel purpose of providing a scraping device for the inner surface of the tube which will re-' move all deposits of asphalt and wax that commonly accumulate in pumping certain types of crude petroleum.

It is well known to those familiar with the art that in certain types of crude petroleum which contain large quantities of wax or asphaltic compound, the deposition of such compounds upon the inner surface of the tubing will, in the course of time, build up such a resistance to theflow of pumped o1l therethrough as to necessitate the withdrawal of the sucker rods and a cleaning of the tubing also makes the withdrawal and re- Unlike the majority of guides, as common- 5 1y used,the*invention isso mounted upon the 4 rods between the couplings or joints, is us'distributing the wear upon a large area in place of an area to the length of the vertical movement of the rods.

invention comprises a plurality, of

The mentioned deposition within the tu sucker rods that it can move freely u on the spirally shaped blades which are rotatably and slidably supported upon the sucker rods by means of bearing collars and which tend to rotate during the reciprocation of the suck er rods, scraping the inner surface of the tubing and the outer surface of the rods, thus preventing the mentioned deposition of solid substances thereon.

Other objects of our invention and a particular construction by means of which these 00 objects may be carried out will be better understood from the following description of an illustrated embodiment thereof, as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 may be'considered as a section of oil 05 well tubing having a sucker rod suspended therein. I

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, showing an embodiment of my invention.

is a plan view corresponding to Fi 2. ig. 4 is a partial elevational View, wit parts broken away, showing a hearing or head member employed in our invention, and

Fi' L 5 is a modified form of bearin or head mem er similar to that shown in ig. 4.

More particularly describing the i'nvention as herein illustrated, reference numeral 11 indicates an oil well tubing, having a sucker rod '12 suspended therein, and thesucker rod 12 is illustrated as having tubing -cleaners 13 recipr0cably mounted thereon.

Due to the fact that the sucker rods as commonly constructed are provided with integrally formed 'oiuts or collars, 14, the form of cleaning mem ers illustrated, if positioned 35 upon the rod'after the same has been finished,

must be placed thereon by cutting the rod,

and, after positioning the protecting or cleaning member on the rod, welding the sections to ether. I r

e cleaning and protecting'member 18 is better illustrated in Fig; 2 as comprisin hearing or head members 15, which are ngi ly connected by means of spirally shaped blades 16, the radial ofiset of the blades rela- 95 tive to the oppositely disposed bearlng memhere may be carried to any desired extent,-but is illustrated as being'substantlall 'lhe outer ends 16' of the blades are ustrated as being tapered toward the axis of the bearings,

and sucker rods,

and corners in the unit and adds materially to the smoothness with which apump equipped with these devices operates.

The hearing or head members 15 are illustrated as, comprising a tubular central hearing section 17 and an annularly extendin flange 18, the flange 18 being provided wit notches 19 adapted to receive the blades 16 and with a plurality of laterally extending holes or apertures 20 through which the fluid which is being drawn through the tubing by pneans of the sucker rods is adapted to cumate. Y

These apertures or passages may be of varying size and arrangement, de ending upon the fluid being pumped from the well.

It will be understood that the circulating fluid passing through the apertures 20 tends toimpinge upon the blades 16 and to effect a rotation of the cleaning member upon the sucker rod, and in the modified form of our invention. shown in Fig. 5, the apertures i1- lustrated at 20 are shown as being disposed at an an le such that the circulating fluid passing through these apertures strikes the rear surfaces 21' of the blades 16' in a more direct manner, thus assuring a more ositive rotation of the member upon the suc er rod. This mentioned rotation of, the cleaner upon the sucker rods obviously prevents the accumulation of sediment upon the inner walls of the tubing.

These protecting members are preferably made of such dimensions that a slight clearance is normally maintained between the outer periphery of the blades and the inner wall of the tubing.

Our invention, as above described, in its 0 eration of removing accumulations from t e inner wall of the tubing not only decreases the resistance to the flow of oil through the tubing, but obviously makes the performance of reinserting the plunger into the pump barrel after the rods have been pulled a much easier 0 eration.

It wi be understood that while we have herein described and illustrated one particular embodiment of our invention, it is not limited to theprecise construction shown, but includes within its scope whatever chan es fairly come within the spirit of the appen ed claims.

We claim as our invention:

1. For use in combination with well tubing and sucker rods, a tubing cleaner device which comprises: bearing members rotatabl mounted upon said sucker rods; and radia lyextending blade members rigidly interosed between said bearing members, said aring members being provided with fluid circulating apertures.

2. For use in combination with well tubing 0 a tubing cleaner device which comprises: bearing members rotatably mounted upon said sucker rods; and radially extending blade members rigidly interposed between said bearing members, said blade members being spirally shaped, and the" ends of said blades being tapered toward the axis of the bearing members.

3. For use in combination with well tubing and sucker rods, a tubing cleaner device which comprises: bearing members rotatably mounted upon said sucker rods; and radially extending blade members rigidly interosed between: said bearing members, said earing members comprising a central tubular section and an annularly extending flange, said flange being provided with a plurality of liquid circulatin apertures.

4. For use in com ination with well tubing and sucker rods, a tubing cleaner device which comprises: bearing members rotatably mounted upon said sucker rods; and radially extending blade members rigidly interposed between said bearing members, said bearing members comprising central tubular sections and annularl extending flanges, said flanges being provi ed with a plurality of liquid circulating a ertures said apertures being adapted to direct a clrculating fluid against the rear surfaces of said blades.

5. For use in combination with well tubing and sucker rods, a tubing cleaner device which comprises: spirally shaped blade members adapted to engage the inner wall of said tubing; and the outer surface of said sucker rods and blade supporting members reciprocably and rotatably mounted on said sucker rods, and adapted to rigidly support opposite ends of said blades.

6. For use in combination with the sucker rods of an oil well pump, a rod cleaning device embod in oppositely disposed bearin members; s 'da 1 and reciprocably mounted on said rods, and lades rigidly interposed between said bearing members having inner ed es adapted to en age said rods.

For use in com ination with well tubing and sucker rods, a tubing cleaner device which comprises :bearing members rotatably mounted upon the sucker rods, and spirally shaped flat blade members having their ends rigidly and radially mounted in said bearing members, the outer ed es of said blades being adapted to engage t e inner wall of said tubin testimony whereof, the said JOHN C.

'Amrs'mons and JOSEPH E. WALLIS have hereunto set their hands at Fillmore, California, this 27th day of April, 1928.

J OHN C. ARMSTRONG. JOSEPH E. WALLIS. 

